St. Benedict Cathedral Parish Pastoral C
End of Term Repo T
he purpose of the Pastoral Council is to investigate pastoral matters and to propose practical conclusions about them to the pastor. These matters include everything that pertains to the pastor’s ministries of proclaiming God’s Word, celebrating the sacraments, caring for the faithful, promoting the mission of the Church to the world, and being a good steward of parish resources. In essence, the Pastoral Council governs the mission and vision for the parish. The second council was comprised of the following elected or appointed individuals — Kelley Coppens, Ann Green, Chris Austin, Donna Halverson, Tami Orr, Jerry Ziemer, Jennifer Browning, Anna Hackert, Bertha Melendres, Margaret Koch, Ben Early, David Rice, Dan Diehl and Bob Wuertz. They began meeting with Fr. Godfrey in October 2017 and will continue to serve until September 2020. Fr. Godfrey asked the current council to focus on the topic of COMMUNICATIONS throughout its term. The following is a list of some of the results of that effort: • Implemented Flocknote emails as a means to communicate to the entire parish on a regular basis. • Started distributing through Flocknote a weekly video message by Fr. Godfrey to the parish. • The parish website has been updated to be more easily maintained on a weekly basis and to reflect ongoing parish activities. • The school website was merged with the parish website to form a unified location for all information regarding our parish life. • A monthly newsletter is now mailed to each 4
parishioner that highlights parish ministries and provides another method for Fr. Godfrey to convey a current topic. • Conducted a Town Hall meeting to gather input from the parish. • Initiated all council meetings Pastoral, School, Finance and Councils working towards understanding of Our Sacred the parish.
that involve Stewardship a common Purpose for
• During the Coronavirus pandemic, maintained — as much as possible — contact with the parishioners through weekly updates from Fr. Godfrey through Flocknotes, weekly Zoom parish conversations hosted by Fr. Godfrey, and personal contact by phone with some of our pillars of the parish (those 75 years old or older). Soon, a new council will be elected/appointed that will serve from September of 2020 to September of 2023. Fr. Godfrey has identified the focus of this new group — STEWARDSHIP.
